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The dialectic between the visionary and practical flight is blurry and destructive. The annihilation of the majority of the Jewish nation in Europe is understood much more on the background of the Nazis' efforts to become the rulers of the world by means of accelerated development of Aviation.

Aviation is a revolution of transportation that started in the beginning of the 20th century. As every revolution in transportation that preceded it, like the wheel and the steamship, it gave to the hands of its dominators the tool for occupation of the world.

But in contrast to the land and sea which are the cradles of human activity from Prehistory, the air is an absolutely new field of action and sustenance. Mankind has not developed the cultural background to Aviation in relation to the imaginary flight.

The imaginary flight has a central role in the development of the soul. It is expressed in vast imagination, but not in relation to the activity of practical Aviation.

There is a chronological direct connection between developments in the field of Aviation and historic important events in the Modern Era.

The airplane is a transportation device that enables a physical movement of people and merchandises from place to place with overcoming of physical obstacles. The significance is absolute change of power relations among the nations.

It is not a surprise that the 20th century was characterized by the most difficult wars in human history.

Aviation is not the single factor for the historical changes that will be described here. It is one of them. But the spiritual flight is a symbol of the human mind and freedom, and the Aviation is identified naturally and organically with this vision.

Aviation is situated in the center of the human interest and deeds, as a central symbol of the personal freedom. It has the ability to serve as a yardstick, as a litmus paper, as a clear expression for lines of phenomena and as such to enable a brave historical explanation, short and blunt.


The first sign to the unstable political climate that innovations in the field of Aviation created can be found in the end of the 18th century, in the French revolution that happened ten years after the invention of the first practical hot-air balloon.

The first impression of the illustrated huge balloon made by the Montgolfier brothers was very strong. Every person, and even goat and lamb, could rise to the sky and observe the world from above as deities. The sublime and the upper where not regarded any more as the heritage of the aristocracy.

The nation rebelled against the corrupted authority, with the results of desolation and social chaos, in the shape of the bloody French revolution.

Napoleon, an ambitious artillery officer, who was the first to use the balloon in the army, tried to bring order. The wars that he managed caused a greater bloodshed and a political reactionism for a century.

The First World War started ten years after the flight of the first airplane by the Right brothers. To the war preceded rapid developments of this empirical tool which included, among other things, crossing of the English Channel in an airplane and demonstrations of its adaptability to the needs of armies throughout Europe. Improvement of the airship at the same period and its transformation to a threatening weapon, added to the picture.

The senior European empires guarded the old order, but the nations under their authority rebelled. They wanted, in the spirit of 'the spring of nations' of the middle 19th century, to have freedom and equality. The fermentation of the different nations brought the system into trembling, and it collapsed as a result of nationalism.

As a result of bombardments from airships on civilian population in the course of this war, the modern 'total state' was created, where every citizen is mobilized for the military effort.

In the course of the First World War the airplane became a much more important weapon which drew great attention.

The Second World War began in the period where the airplane became established as the only safe transportation in the air, because airships did not prove themselves.

The Nazis roused to rule on a platform of canceling the Versailles Treaty, that one of its main sections was incapacitating Germany from developing the air force that it was so proud of.

The political inspiration for the Nazis was provided by a line of intellectuals who attached between the material and the spiritual need, such as Nietzsche and his Superman theory, and Karel Haushofer and the 'living space' theory'.

They processed the movement to the sky as a method of action for modern Germany. They developed the German race and 'living space' theories, of the dominator of the world from the air by force.

The militarization of Nazi Germany was done mainly by means of accelerated development of Aviation. Goering, the second to Hitler and the most popular figure in Germany, lead the course, developing the Luftwaffe.

The Second World War occurred with air superiority dictating its development. The Nazis were convinced until their defeat that they will succeed in winning the war by means of 'fantastic aerial weapons', like the ballistic missile and the jet airplane.

The program of the 'final solution' for the annihilation of the Jews was carried out by Rinhard Heidrich, who developed an impressive second career as a fighter pilot, in addition to his career as Himler's deputy in the S-S.

The Wanza Conference in January 1942 took place about a month after the offensive of the Japanese airplanes on Pearl Harbor.
The timing served as an excellent opportunity for Heidrich for the enforcement of his authority and creating a course that otherwise could possibly be complicated by bureaucratic obstacles.

Read more about 'The Connection between the Holocaust and the Development of Aviation' in: Holocaust and Aviation

After the Second World War occurred at least two wars of regional importance where the air superiority had a prominent role: The Vietnam War, in the 1960th, lasted more and more, because the Americans presumed that it is in their ability to win it by using combat helicopters.

The Yom- Kippur war in 1973, between Israel to Egypt and Syria, began because the Arabs presumed that they have enough strength to accumulate adequate air defense which will enable them a limited land attack.
The oversight and complacency of Israel resulted from the thought that the Arabs will not try to open in a war as long as there is not air advantage in airplanes in their hands.

The 1960th was typified by the race to the Space, where United States prevailed lastly, after launching the first man to the moon.
Ten years later this superpower began to launch shuttles to the Space. It converted the gap with USSR to so big, that the last collapsed.

United States became the only superpower in the world by means of the 'Shuttle Diplomacy'. Within this framework it enforced the universal peace by aircraft carriers fleet and leapings of her heads between capitals of the world.


In the recent years, with the clarified slowdown and the relative failure of the American space program, the universal peace disintegrates, as a result of fundamentalist terrorism.
The terror attack by airplanes on United States in September 2001 is a clear expression of a new World Order.
The order is parallel to the period of the anarchy before the First World War.

About the Author

Avinoam Amizan is the author of the book: Holocaust and Aviation

His home website is: The Human Shape of the Holy Land